Full Tilt Pros Losing Big Since Relaunch

Since Full Tilt’s relaunch two weeks ago, the site’s pro roster of Gus Hansen, Viktor Blom and Tom Dwan have not fared well in high stakes action.

Hansen suffered a downswing of $1.5 million in a recent 27-hour session. Prior to beginning the marathon, things were looking up for the Dane as he turned a profit of roughly $500,000 playing pot-limit Omaha at stakes of $200/$400 against the likes of no Ola and O Fortuna PLS.

However, after a four-hour break in action, Hansen sat down at a high stakes 2-7 Triple Draw table and lost about $300,000. Deciding to up the stakes, Hansen moved over to $2,000/$4,000 fixed-limit Omaha Hi/Lo and remained there for over 23 hours, where his bankroll took a hit to the tune of $1.4 million against SallyWoo, cottonseed1, and other players.

Hansen had been on an upswing prior to the Full Tilt shutdown last year, collecting $5.5 million in profits before virtual play was halted, first by the U.S. Department of Justice on Black Friday and then by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission in late June.

Tom Dwan was in the U.S. during the Full Tilt relaunch and could not partake in the online action until a recent flight to London allowed him to once again play on the familiar Full Tilt software. However, like Hansen, Durrrr had a rough time at 2-7 Triple Draw, dumping around $206,700.

Blom rounds out the three Professionals serving as Full Tilt ambassadors for the resurrected online poker site. Isuldur1 is also on the minus side of the ledger since the Nov. 6 re-opening.

Full Tilt Player Traffic Falling

Full Tilt’s relaunch saw 400,000 players return to online poker upon the first week of action. The first day saw a cash game average of 8,900 players. Since the much-heralded relaunch, player numbers have been declining. The end of the first week saw an average of 8,000 cash players online. Now, after about two weeks of being up and running, those numbers have dipped to 6,400.

Full Tilt still holds down second place in worldwide player traffic behind sister site PokerStars. However, with the novelty and excitement of the relaunch dying down, expect those average numbers to drop further over time. Prediction is that the player traffic will somewhat stabilize in the three to four-week range, so the end of this month may give a better idea of Full Tilt’s staying power in the industry.